Chris Kasper, the CEO of Harvest Power, says he’s “losing sleep” over the grief that smells emanating from his Richmond compost facility are causing for the plant’s neighbours.

But that didn’t stop the company from appealing the terms of its recently renewed air quality management permit on grounds it contains “unreasonable, arbitrary, vague” requirements and guidelines around odour issues.

Harvest Power’s permit, which was issued on Sept. 30 and is valid until April 2020, contains requirements to ensure odours from the facility will be controlled or eliminated going forward.

In particular, the company wants to do away with the sniff test which it deems “subjective and not practicable,” as well as “punitive.”

Harvest has asked for an Environmental Appeal Board hearing to reverse and set aside the permit, or an order that Metro Vancouver strike a number of sections of the permit.

The appeal was expected, said Ray Robb, environmental regulation and enforcement division manager for Metro Vancouver.

During discussions before the permit being renewed, Harvest expressed concerns about a number of things, Robb said.

The so-called “sniff test” was at the top of the list. Under the new regulations, if odours are detected by bylaw officers for 10 minutes in any hour, within five kilometres of the facility for more than four days in any 14-day period, the facility will be forced to stop accepting food waste, even if it is mixed with green waste.

The radius and number of days decrease in 2018 and 2019.

Over the past year, Harvest Power’s operation has been the source of more than 1,200 complaints to Metro Vancouver, the regional body that regulates air quality in the region. In late October, almost a month after its permit was renewed, it set a record for being named in the highest number of odour complaints in one day.

The facility receives the majority (about 60 per cent) of Metro Vancouver’s green and food waste — 225,000 tonnes last year — and converts it into compost and biogas. The smell coming from the operation has become an issue as the amount of green waste coming in has increased.

In a recent telephone interview from his office in Massachusetts, Harvest Power CEO Chris Kasper apologized to those who have been subjected to the Richmond facility’s powerful stench.

Chris Kasper, CEO of Harvest Power.Submitted/Harvest Power /
PNG

“We have always prided ourselves on being good neighbours and handling the organic recycling needs of the community responsibly,” said Kasper. “It is clear to me we have let the community down, and I’m sorry.”

However, the company has problems with the permit that was issued by Metro Vancouver — what Kasper called “reporting and procedural elements.”

“It’s something that we think could be improved and, given its importance, deserves the best and highest standards to make sure that the enforcement elements are there and at the same time it’s fair, and objective and scientifically based for the company so that we can understand and be able to measure ourselves against the standard that’s set for us,” he said.

The sections being challenged deal with the sniff test, set volume and quantity limits for odorous compounds, requirement Harvest undertake source testing for odorous compounds based on complaints and the observations of a bylaw officer, requirement Harvest submit a proposal for emissions limits for odorous air contaminants and restrict monthly receipt of commingled waste during the summer and early fall.

Robb said that in terms of enforcement, all terms of the permit are enforceable unless the appeal board grants a stay of the controversial portions.

Metro is dealing with two other permit appeals — one from West Coast Reduction in Vancouver and another from Ebco in Surrey, Robb said.

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, who along with council has encouraged residents to report odours to Metro Vancouver and Harvest Power, said the city is waiting to get the details of the appeal to determine the ramifications.

He added that while the city has decided not appeal the permit — this is due to legal advice and the belief that an appeal might delay improvements to the compost facility — some residents have.

Burke Austin, a Richmond resident who is regularly subjected to the odours wafting from the compost facility, has filed an appeal on behalf of a group of 30 residents.

She found it “unbelievable” that Harvest has filed its own appeal.

“It really does surprise me,” she said. “They don’t seem to be being good neighbours with this appeal of their own. It’s almost admitting they won’t be able to comply with (the permit).”

Kasper said that while Harvest is appealing certain “reporting elements” of the permit, it will still move forward with the millions of dollars in changes it plans to make to the facility.

“It’s important that people understand that this is not an excuse for delay, this is not a negotiation tactic,” he said.

Harvest manages about two million tonnes of organics per year at almost two dozen sites across North America. Richmond’s facility is the worst performing and receives by far the highest number of complaints.

“This site is at this point in time in terms of the challenges we’re having is unlike anything I’ve experienced in my tenure with the company and it is something that has my personal attention and something that we are absolutely committed to addressing” Kasper said.

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